Getting To Know Wisconsin: Defense

Another week has come and gone, and now we find ourselves just 14 days from the 98th Rose Bowl Game. The break from Duck football the last few weeks has been a harsh adjustment, to say the least. Sort of like losing an arm- crippling, painful and awkward at first- you are left with no choice but to adapt and eventually get the hang of the day to day routine again. It might even get a little easier as each day goes by, but it remains clear that something critical is missing.

As we start the count down to kick off, it is time to familiarize ourselves with the Wisconsin defensive personnel, some of the stats, and how they have combined to field the nations #8 defense in yards allowed per game. The Badgers start 5 seniors and, for the most part run a rather garden variety 4-3 base defense, although they have shown a few different fronts here and there (including a look with no down lineman). Wisconsin officially lists both Chris Ash and Charles Partrige as co-defensive coordinators. Both are relatively new in their roles with Ash joining the team in 2010, and Partrige was named co-coordinator in 2011.

Badgers Co-Defensive Coordinator Chris Ash

The Badger defense this season has performed very well as a unit for the most part, ranking #6 nationally while giving up an average of only 17 points per game to opponents. It could however, be said that they did not play a single formidable offensive team this season. Mostly, the Badgers played against against some of the worst offenses in the country statistically. In fact, outside of non-conference match up Northern Illinois (#13 Points/Yards per game), the Badgers next best offensive opponent this season was Michigan State- The #39 offensive attack in points (30.8) and yards (390.4) per game.

They have posted some dominating scores and stats along the way, but we should note that they lost to #75 Ohio State. 6 of their 11 wins came against #91 Illinois, #99 Oregon State, #101 Indiana, #110 Penn State, #111 Minnesota, and #113 UNLV. When you take into consideration that there are only 120 FBS teams, you may start to wonder about how this group would fare against teams from the other side of the stat-spectrum, like #3 Oregon for instance. That 39th ranked Michigan State team? Good for 471 total yards and 39 points against the Badgers. The 75th ranked Buckeyes? 268 yards rushing and 33 points.

To compare, the Ducks faced 9 teams: #5 Stanford, #12 LSU, #17 USC, #25 ASU, #31 Nevada, #36 Washington, #40 Arizona, t-#47 Cal, and t-#47 Washington State are all generally within the top 1/3 of major team statistical categories including points and yards per game nationally.

I dont want to discount the Wisconsin team/season accomplishments or dismiss their ability to perform well against the Ducks. A team simply can not win a Big 10 title or enjoy the success Wisconsin has without playing great defense. But, it is fair to say they haven’t seen anything really close to an Oregon style spread-option offense either. Not to mention the unique and productive way that Oregon goes about it, and the players they have running it. Many are pointing to how the Oregon offensive and individual player speed will match up against the Wisconsin defense as being the biggest key to the game.

Here is a look at their defensive personnel by position, and how they have produced in a few statistical categories. I included the same player stats for the Ducks as well for comparison. (Projected Starters in bold)

Defensive End:

#93 Senior DE Louis Nzegwu has 6 tackles for loss and 4.5 sacks

Badger Defensive End

Ht, Wt, Yr

Tackles

TFL/Sacks

Fum/Rec/Int

#93 Louis Nzegwu

6-4, 255, Sr.

34

6/4.5

1/0/0

#51 Tyler Dippel

6-4, 260, So.

27

3/1

0/0/0

#92 Patrick Muldoon

6-3, 260, So.

12

.5/0

0/0/0

#97 Brendan Kelly

6-6, 255, Jr.

32

5/3

2/0/0

Duck Defensive End

Ht, Wt, Yr

Tackles

TFL/Sacks

Fum/Rec/Int

#45 Terrell Turner

6-3, 261, Sr.

47

9/5.5

1/1/0

#91 Tony Washington

6-3, 245, Fr.

17

1/1

1/0/0

#44 Brandon Hanna

6-2, 234, Sr.

33

3/2

0/3/1

#96 Dion Jordan

6-7, 230, Jr.

40

13/7.5

1/0/0

Defensive Tackle:

#96 Sophomore DT Beau Allen is the Largest Badger on Defense

Badger Defensive Tackle

Ht, Wt, Yr

Tackles

TFL/Sacks

Fum/Rec/Int

#95 Patrick Butrym

6-4, 285, Sr.

22

3.5/1

1/0/0

#96 Beau Allen

6-3, 310, So.

20

4.5/4

0/0/0

#87 Ethan Hemer

6-6, 300, So.

32

1/1

0/0/0

#91 Jordan Kohout

6-3, 290, So.

20

2.5/0

0/1/0

Duck Defensive Tackle

Ht, Wt, Yr

Tackles

TFL/Sacks

Fum/Rec/Int

#90 Ricky Heimuli

6-4, 318, So.

22

.5/0

0/0/0

#65 Isaac Remington

6-6, 262, Jr.

30

4/1.5

0/0/0

#66 Taylor Hart

6-6, 262, So.

42

3/2.5

1/0/0

#92 Wade Keliikipi

6-2, 289, So.

20

1.5/1.5

0/0/0

Linebacker:

#44 LB Chris Borland has an amazing 18 tackles for loss this season

Badger Linebacker

Ht, Wt, Yr

Tackles

TFL/Sacks

Fum/Rec/Int

#53 Mike Taylor

6-2, 230, Jr.

137

8/1

2/2/2

#30 Derek Landisch

5-11,225, Fr.

20

1/0

0/1/0

#9 Kevin Claxton

6-1, 240, Sr.

47

6.5/1

0/0/0

#13 Conor O’Neill

6-0, 220, So.

28

1.5/0

0/0/0

#44 Chris Borland

5-11, 245, So.

131

18/1.5

4/2/2

#59 Marcus Trotter

6-0, 235, Fr.

1

0/0

0/0/0

Duck Linebacker

Ht, Wt, Yr

Tackles

TFL/Sacks

Fum/Rec/Int

#46 Michael Clay

5-11, 225, Jr.

89

6.5/3

2/1/2

#47 Kiko Alonso

6-4, 222, Jr.

41

3.5/1

0/0/1

#52 Dewitt Stuckey

5-11, 221, Sr.

66

6/3

0/1/1

#35 Anthony Wallace

6-0, 235, Fr.

7

1/0

0/0/0

#56 Josh Kaddu

6-3, 225, Sr.

49

9.5/6.5

0/0/0

#25 Boseko Lokombo

6-3, 223, So.

28

3.5/2

1/1/2

Corner Back:

#26 Senior CB Antonio Fenelis leads the team with 4 INTS

Badger Corner Back

Ht, Wt, Yr

Tackles

TFL/Sacks

Fum/Rec/Int

#14 Marcus Cromartie

6-1, 180, Jr.

40

.5/0

0/1/0

#21 Peneal Jean

5-11, 190, Fr.

24

1/0

0/0/0

#26 Antonio Fenelus

5-9, 190, Sr.

46

3/0

0/0/4

#32 Devin Gaulden

5-10, 185, Fr.

3

0/0

0/0/0

Duck Corner Back

Ht, Wt, Yr

Tackles

TFL/Sacks

Fum/Rec/Int

#18 Anthony Gildon

6-1, 185, Sr.

24

.5/0

0/0/1

#2 Troy Hill

5-11, 165, Fr.

34

1/0

0/0/1

#27 Terrance Mitchell

6-0, 183, Fr.

40

3/0

2/1/2

#14 Ifo Ekpre-Olomu

5-10, 182, Fr.

32

.5/0

0/0/0

Safety:

#7 Senior Safety Aaron Henry is 3rd in total tackles with 62

Badger Safety

Ht, Wt, Yr

Tackles

TFL/Sacks

Fum/Rec/Int

#24 Shelton Jones

6-0, 190 Jr.

51

6/0

1/0/4

#12 Dezmen Southward

6-2, 200, So.

30

0/0

2/0/0

#7 Aaron Henry

6-0, 210, Sr.

62

3/1

0/0/3

#43 Michael Trotter

6-0, 210, Fr.

1

0/0

0/0/0

Duck Safety

Ht, Wt, Yr

Tackles

TFL/Sacks

Fum/Rec/Int

#11 Eddie Pleasant

5-11, 213, Sr.

60

2/1

0/0/3

#12 Brian Jackson

5-10, 192, So.

25

0/0

0/0/0

#20 John Boyett

5-10, 198, Jr.

91

3/0

0/0/1

#31 Avery Patterson

5-10, 180, So.

54

1.5/0

1/1/0

You can also read my previous post: Getting to Know Wisconsin: Offense- Here

Josh White

Josh White has been a dedicated Duck fan since the Bill Musgrave days. He has attended (and lost his voice at) virtually every home game and many away games since the late 1980's, including 96 of the current 97 game sellout streak at Autzen Stadium. A Eugene native, Josh works full time in Eugene area real estate, helping people buy and sell residential and commercial properties, and also volunteers with Habitat For Humanity, Kidsports and Food For Lane County. He welcomes your feedback.
Twitter:@WhiteHouseJoshFacebook:EugenesBestRealtor

http://www.facebook.com/people/Dean-Johnson/1291131839 Dean Johnson

Michigan State is a solid offensive team. They averaged the same amount of points as Arizona. Kirk Cousins is a very good QB IMHO.

Josh White

MSU did produce the same 30.8 points per game as Arizona, but Arizona averaged allay 70 yards more per game. While Cal averaged 1 point less (29.8), they actually averaged more yards per game both running and passing than MSU.

Thanks Dean. I was really just writing about Wisconsin but thought it might be nice to see the Oregon stats as well despite the huge discrepancy in plays defended. I agree that the Cal offense is pretty brutal.